The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-01-29
A SNOW-SLIDE RACE.
A Striking Incident Of Rocky
Mountain Life.
The Euuraga of a Swede Who had Conf
denrc ia His skill IN S~now-shoes--
fisking Life on IL Wager.

"Did You ever hear of a race with a
sno"-slidc.a'
The question was prompted by a con-
vcrsati0n five or six gentlemen were
engaged in over the excitement of ice
boating on the Hudson, where the
speed Of the boats has exceeded sixty
miles per hour.
The 4ucstlOncr was a young man who
had spent some years in the heart Of
the Rocky mountains, and, as all the
answers were interrogative "noes,' he
began lis story.
in the winter of 1885" he said,
''the little town in which I lived was
sn2w-Gound for nearly six weeks.
None Of us could get out, and it was
equally certain that no II would come
in. After the first week we lived on
'sUw-bplly,' potatoes, and bread, and
our only musements were snow-shoe-
ing and poker. The snow-Shoes, by the
way, were not those things they useupin
Canada, but the regulation Norwegian
winter foot@car. From twelve to six
teen feet in length, thlyc inches wide,
and curved at the toes, these shoes
when pointed down Il steep mountain
side with one hundred and sixty pounds
OF humanity equally distributed upon
them, will discount the best time ever
made by IN ico-boat upon tho
Hudson or elsewhere. The bottoms are
generally gi"en a coat of tallow or oil,
in order to reduce the friction to mini
mum, as well as to prevent the snow
from adhcring, Well, it was with a
pair of these shoes that q Swedc by the
name Of Charles Petersen had the most
thrilling race imaginable. It was rem
dcrcd all the more 50 from the fact that
it was voluntary on his part, for he had
deliberately made the wager that he
would start the slide and then outrun it
to the 'h0@-back' (a small ridge at the
bottom of the gulcl), which he would
have to reach III order to escape with
his life.
"A few words about the great
depth Of snow at the time, and,
perhaps, you will appreciate the
intense excitement that prevailed
during the few seconds the race
lasted. In the first place, the race oc.
cured two days after one of the great.
est storms the white peoplein the south.
west corner Of Colorado had ever eX.
perienced, and it was estimated thai.
at least, twelve feet Of the bearntul'
fell during its continuance. This set
tied, however, TO, perhaps. eight feet.
but as there was not less than six feet
already on the ground, the total depth
was, at least, fourteen feet. The old
snow formed a good bed for the new,
and the hard. firm crust Of the former
was a splendid surface over which the
latter could slip, and over which it did
slip with frightful velocity.
The point selected for the race was
one of the stccpest gulch cs N the mos
precipitous mountain within a radiu;
of twenty miles, and it is not an exag
gcration to say the incline OF the course
wasequal to As degrees. The length wa.
$500 feet by measurement, fol
the starting point was just at the upper
end lines of two full mining claims, ant
the terminus on the 'hog-back' before
referred to, the center Of which was 40(
feet from the lowcr-end lines of the
claims in question. Under the agree
ment Petersen was to enter the gulcl
nearly 1000 feet above the line wher'
the timber ceases to grow, and aftel
taking his position directly in the patl
of the slide, or avalanche, as it cal
more properly be called was required
to start the snow. This was easl